Virgin Media boasts more subscribers and more losses

More households than ever before switched to Virgin Media in the last quarter, as the company reaped the benefits of network upgrades.

A net 38,300 new households joined the cable network in the first three months of the year, beating every quarter since Virgin Media was formed four years ago.

A net total of 72,300 customers bought cable broadband, up 53 per cent on the same period a year ago. In the last year Virgin Media has completed its DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade, with its network now offering downstream speeds of up to 50Mbit/s nationally, and in local trials at 200Mbit/s.

"We are developing our services to exploit our natural network advantage, both now and in the future," said chief executive Neil Berkett.

"More customers than ever before are choosing faster broadband."

Despite the strong customer performance, the firm still registered wider pre-tax losses of £160m, up from £154m a year ago. Revenues were up 2.9 per cent to £963m, but interest payments on debts of £6.1bn acquired during the rollout of the cable network wiped out that growth. ®